Nintendo's mysterious new console could get a radical feature

The Japanese company has produced a patent for a home machine and many believe it could be our first look at the NX.

The console plan was spotted by eagle-eyed NeoGAF users who noticed there wasn't any mention of a Blu Ray drive or similar disc-based unit.

That has sparked speculation the NX could be the first major console ever to only allow game downloads from the web via a secure network.

The patent reads: "The example system is not provided with an optical disc drive for reading out a program and/or data from an optical disc.

GETTY

NEW: The console's controller will include its own "display unit"

"An example system includes an internal hard disc drive storing a program and/or data, a communication unit transmitting/receiving a program and/or data via a network, and a processor executing a program stored in the hard disc drive to perform game processing."

And it looks like the console's controller will include its own "display unit", like the screen on the Wii U GamePad.

This is only a patent and things can very much change before we actually see the NX in the flesh, if this is even the NX.

Nintendo teased the NX back in March.

It didn't reveal anything about the machine other than it's a "dedicated game platform with a brand-new concept" and more details will be revealed next year.